A few incidentals about this spring …
- Birds are singing in the deep starless night, not brief warbles but grand and lengthy songs, whether at midnight or 3 a.m. or on through morning.
- The annual scattering of sunflowers from bird seed fosters more robust flowers than any gardener’s hand could ensure. When the flowers grow large enough, an intrepid squirrel rushes at them, toppling them with a snap at the middle of the stem and a bite of the flower head, to be taken to the shade of a nearby tree and enjoyed fresh.
- The great bed of rosemary plants flourishes tall and fragrant but a bear urinated on one tall bit and it (the plant) died, turning brown and dry. One could suspect the bear not only because the adjacent plants were unaffected (hence not a plant disease) but because one night the bear had stepped through the rosemary in an attempt to reach birdfeeders hanging from the roof eaves. (The bear gave up but made a mess of the wooden feeders, though quickly repaired.) The bear, which was nursing three cubs, has since moved on.
- Molly, the Hermitary dog, suffered an acute inflamation that, over the course of several weeks, had her unable to stand or walk (walking being her favorite thing to do, after listening to music, watching or lounging in the outdoors, and sleeping). A dose of drugs has reversed the problem, and hopefully all will be well for this ten year old “octogenarian.”